Baby carriers, bassinets, cribs, baby carriages, baby swings, and baby car seats comprise a list of baby holding devices that are used to contain an infant for various assundry purposes including the sleep, containment, or transport thereof. More recently, baby holding devices having multiple uses have gained significant consumer acceptance due to the relatively lower initial cost outlay in addition to the increased functionality provided thereby. Thus, a conventional baby carrier having specific utility as a means for transporting an infant while walking may also be configured for use as a car seat, or even as a receptacle for mounting within a baby carriage, thereby creating a baby carrier system. Additionally, the conventional baby carrier system has also found viable utility as a portable rocker via the implementation of convex shaped support surfaces fashioned therebeneath, which allow the baby carrier to be manually rocked to-and-fro by an accompanying adult.
It is well known that imparting a reciprocating or rocking motion to a young infant has a calming as well as a sleep inducing effect thereon. Due to this fact, many attempts have been made to incorporate a swinging mechanism into various types of baby holding devices. One such type of baby holding device includes a baby crib having reciprocating means as described by U.S. Pat. No. 3,022,520 to Finger, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,225,365 to Miller et al. Nevertheless, smaller, more portable devices such as those described by U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,080 to Hafele, U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,343 to Kinslow and U.S. Pat. No. 6,378,940 to Longoria. et al. have been developed which utilize a reciprocatingly enabled baby recliner device. Although the '080, '343, and '940 devices are all relatively more portable than the crib type devices denoted hereinabove, their designs suffer in that they are dedicated to the single utilitarian function of rocking a baby. That is, neither of these devices is configurable for use as a baby carrier, or as a receptacle for mounting in a car seat or a baby carriage.
In order to extend the functionality of the conventional multi-use baby carrier system for use as a self-propelled swing or rocker, motorized actuating mechanisms have been developed which cause the conventional baby carrier to rock to-and-fro when placed on a large flat surface such as a floor wherein several examples of such devices includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,698 to Jantz, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,860,698 to Asenstorfer, et al. Although both of these devices do provide utility as a self-propelled motion imparting device for the baby carrier, they both exist as external mechanisms to the baby carrier system and thus possess the inherent drawback of an extraneous part which may possibly become inadvertently displaced from the baby carrier device, thus negating their usefulness for their intended purpose. Additionally, the motorized rocking system described by the aforementioned devices would find very limited use on uneven or soft surfaces such as lawns, which is a typical surfacing feature found at parks, front yards, golf courses, and the like.
There has thus been a long-felt need for baby carrier system having the ability to impart a self-propelled swinging or rocking motion for the purpose of comforting and calming of a baby disposed thereinside. The self-propelled actuating mechanism should optimally exist as an integral portion of the baby carrier device and should be easily configurable for use either as a baby carrier or as a baby swing.